The Spectator

Thursday

The Spectator

Just how hot has it got in the UK?

Hot topic Last week’s Barometer detailed past UK temperature records. Those were broken by this week’s heatwave. On Monday a new Welsh record was set when temperatures hit 35.3˚C in Gogerddan and on Tuesday England measured a new high of 40.3˚C at Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Source: Met Office Inn crowd The World’s 50 Best Restaurants released its 20th annual listing of top dining spots around the globe. Italy and Spain have the most with 6 each. Denmark, France, Japan, Peru and the US have 3, while Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and the UK have 2. Source: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Pop around Queen became the first band to sell seven million copies of one album in the UK.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Record-breaking heat, a summer of strikes and a warning for snake-owners

Home In the contest for the leadership of the Conservative party, Jeremy Hunt and Nadhim Zahawi were the first of the eight contenders to be eliminated, followed by Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat and Kemi Badenoch. After two televised debates, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the frontrunners, refused to take part in a third, which was cancelled. The debates were bitter and accompanied by negative briefings. Lord Frost said he had ‘grave reservations’ about Penny Mordaunt, and had ‘had to ask the PM to move her on’ when she was his junior during Brexit negotiations. After parliament rose for the summer two names were to be put before party members in a postal ballot.

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Letters: What William Blake meant

Procurement profligacy Sir: In response to Susan Hill’s query ‘Who allows the profligacy in NHS hospital procurement to continue?’ (‘Best medicine’, 16 July), it seems the national scale of public sector bureaucracy is just too great. Given the size and spending power of the NHS, no one should come close to achieving equal efficiencies in economies of scale, nor gain better prices from suppliers. But this is not the case. As a non-clinical procurement professional in the NHS, having come from the private sector, I’ve been surprised to consistently find the national purchasing authority of the NHS (formerly ‘NHS Supply Chain’, now ‘SCCL’) to be the worst pricing option available to us.

Wednesday

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The heatwave shows the lockdown instinct is still alive

Trains were running even more slowly than usual. Schools were closed again. Offices were empty. No one would deny that Monday and Tuesday were on the warm side, at least by British standards. Even so, there was something more alarming than the temperature: how quickly the authorities started to close down society – and showed that the lockdown instinct is still very much alive. The Met Office, a body that has turned from fairly comical to slightly sinister in recent times, started advising everyone to stay at home. The unions asked for schools, offices and transport systems to be closed down. There were no trains north out of King’s Cross or Euston, and Luton airport closed completely. Sadiq Khan lost no time in asking people not to have barbecues.

The Spectator

Wanted: senior digital marketing executive

How would you describe The Spectator? And how would you sell it to someone who had never read us before? Some of the most important words we write never appear in the magazine: they’re from our ten-strong marketing department. They’re now looking for a senior digital marketing exec: it’s a mid-level job to learn from and get stuck into the world’s greatest publication and join the team here in 22 Old Queen Street. You will be … Looking at the emails we send to readers who don’t (yet) subscribe. How to best persuade them to sign up? Which emails work the best? Which ones to send out and when? Technology gives us a pretty good idea, and you’ll be using it to keep score.How to make the case for The Spectator in social media.

Saturday

The Spectator

Job offer: Product Owner

Over the last decade, The Spectator — the world’s oldest weekly — has almost doubled its sales in a market that has fallen by two thirds. In an era where publications are judged by the quality of the digital product as much as they are the magazine, the role of product owner is crucial to our continued success. We are looking for someone to manage and oversee our digital products — including primarily our website and app, but also our podcast and video platforms. You will act as a bridge between the digital, editorial and marketing departments. So you’ll be not just technically proficient, but also a meticulous organiser, communicator and project manager with a keen eye for detail who can juggle several mission-critical projects all at once.

Thursday

The Spectator

What’s the hottest it’s ever been in the UK?

Hot hot hot The Met Office said temperatures may hit 40˚C on Sunday, which would be the highest ever recorded in the UK. The current record of 38.7˚C was in Cambridge Botanic Garden on 25 July 2019. The lowest ever temperature of -27.2˚C was recorded in Braemar, Aberdeenshire twice: once on 11 February 1895 and on 10 January 1982. Source: Met Office Cutting remarks Former chancellor Lord Lamont warned Tory leadership candidates not to enter a ‘Dutch auction’ over promising tax cuts. Here are the cuts they have proposed so far: Nadhim Zahawi £43.4bn Jeremy Hunt £39bn Liz Truss £38.

The Spectator

Letters: In defence of Boris Johnson

Boris’s legacy Sir: It is grossly unfair to assert that Boris Johnson’s legacy was the lockdown (Leading article, 9 July). His chief legacy was, of course, Brexit, followed by the crushing of Corbynism, the world-beating vaccine rollout, and his leading role in supporting Ukraine against the Russian invaders. Not a bad tally. Most European countries, though not Sweden, imposed lockdowns of varying lengths and severity, on the advice of scientists and with overwhelming public support. Governments were on a learning curve when the vicious virus struck. Johnson’s government made mistakes, but got most of the big decisions right. We all know about Johnson’s flaws, but he was a remarkable prime minister. He deserves more credit than you give him.

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Mo Farah’s secret, hot weather warnings and hot competition for the Tory leadership

Home The Conservatives began the process of finding a new leader, which involves balloting MPs and then sending two names for party members to choose between. Eight candidates initially qualified for the process set out by the 1922 Committee, by gaining nominations from 20 MPs: Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhim Zahawi. Grant Shapps, Rehman Chishti and Sajid Javid withdrew before the off. Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, a fancied contender, had decided not to stand, as had Steve Baker, who was not widely fancied. Michael Gove (whom Downing Street had denounced a week earlier as a ‘snake’ when the Prime Minister, attempting to hold on to power, sacked him) did not stand, and nor did Priti Patel.

The Spectator

The Uber scandal highlights big tech’s big failure

A few years ago the Conservatives were excited about the march of the tech giants. Uber was offering an alternative to black cabs at a far lower cost, and Airbnb enabled homeowners to rent out a spare room to tourists at a fraction of the rate charged by hotels. Politicians were no longer dependent on traditional media but could reach the public via social networks, and there seemed to be an explosion of entrepreneurs, empowered by the new tech, taking on vested interests. The Tories intended to be part of this revolution. Their enthusiasm for people power was not to last. The government now plans to give regional mayors the power to curb Airbnb to protect the hotel industry (and the government tax base).

The Spectator

2561: Ports – solution

The unclued entry RECYCLING thematically links six unclued cyclic non-word permutations that appear in the systematic order GCYCLIN, NGCYCLI, INGCYCL, LINGCYC, CLINGCY and YCLINGC. The title alluded cryptically to SPORT/CYCLING. First prize Richard Andrews, Ashford, Middlesex Runners-up Sara MacIntosh, Darlington, Co. Durham; Roderick Rhodes, Goldsborough, N.

Thursday

The Spectator

Letters: What Sturgeon has got wrong

Sturgeon’s single issue Sir: Nicola Sturgeon needs to be careful what she wishes for. Declaring that the next general election will be concerned solely with the issue of Scottish independence is, as you say, ‘a constitutional absurdity’ (‘Sturgeon’s bluff’, 2 July). Heads of government who stipulate single-issue elections are on a hiding to nothing, and rightly so. Theresa May’s ‘Brexit’ election in 2017 turned out badly for her, although at least she kept her job (just). Ted Heath wasn’t so lucky in 1974 (‘Who rules Britain?’), ditto Churchill in 1945 (‘Who won the war?’) or Stanley Baldwin in 1923 (‘Free trade or protection?’).

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Portrait of the week: Boris on the brink, petrol price protests and a £3,000 swear word

Home Rishi Sunak resigned as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Sajid Javid as Health Secretary. (Nadhim Zahawi accepted the post of Chancellor and Steve Barclay, the PM’s chief of staff, Health Secretary.) The resignations came five days after Chris Pincher, aged 52, the MP for Tamworth, resigned as deputy chief whip the morning after he ‘drank far too much’ at the Carlton Club where he was alleged to have groped two men. Then began questions of what Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, knew and when. Mr Pincher had the whip removed as a member of the parliamentary Conservative party, and said: ‘I will benefit from professional medical support.

The Spectator

A Tory implosion

What is the purpose of a Conservative government? It’s a reasonable question for voters to ask. In 2019 Boris Johnson gave us a clear answer: he was a different type of politician. He would get Brexit done, then protect the public from the rising costs of government by freezing taxes. The public, he said, had had enough of weasel words and broken politics. He stood as an unconventional prime minister who would sweep away Westminster’s failing conventions. Instead, he is in danger of sweeping away the conventions that actually worked. The country is now being deprived of a functional government: one that is capable of planning longer than a fortnight ahead. For Johnson, survival is victory.

The Spectator

2560: Obit VI – solution

The perimetric names are NIJINSKY, NEVER SAY DIE, CREPELLO, THE MINSTREL, ROBERTO and TEENOSO, six of the nine Derby winners ridden by Lester Piggott who died on the 29th of May, the other three being ST PADDY (22), SIR IVOR (33) and EMPERY (4). DERBY (15) and LESTER (35) were to be shaded.

The Spectator

How has the Wimbledon prize money changed over time?

Blooming huge Botanists discovered the largest species of giant water lily at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with leaves more than 10ft wide. The plant with the largest leaves is the Raffia regalis, a palm whose foliage can grow up to 82ft long and 10ft wide. The largest living organism is a colony of identical aspen named Pando (‘I spread’ in Latin) in Utah which covers 108 acres. A wild fig tree in Mpumalanga, South Africa has the longest roots on record at 400ft. Net profits Wimbledon comes to an end this weekend with the men’s and ladies’ finals. How has the total prize money for the singles championship changed over time?

Thursday

The Spectator

2559: Platinum upgrade – solution

The perimeter, starting at square 38, yields six of the CITIES created to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee: DONCASTER, MILTON KEYNES, BANGOR, WREXHAM, DUNFERMLINE and DOUGLAS. STANLEY and COLCHESTER are the unclued lights. PORT (Stanley) had to be highlighted at 23 Across.

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Portrait of the week: Scottish independence, striking lawyers and the end of Roe vs Wade

Home Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that military spending had to increase. Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, reacted to the loss of two by-elections by saying ‘I’ve got to listen to what people are saying’, but did not resign. Oliver Dowden said ‘Somebody must take responsibility’, and resigned as a co-chairman of the Conservative party. Later Mr Johnson joked to reporters in Kigali, Rwanda, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting: ‘I’m thinking actively about the third term.’ The Liberal Democrats won Tiverton and Honiton with a swing of 29.9 per cent from the Conservatives; the Conservative majority of 24,239 from the 2019 general election was the largest ever overturned in a by-election.

The Spectator

Nicola Sturgeon’s referendum stunt

Nicola Sturgeon presents Scotland as a country outraged by Brexit and straining at the leash of the United Kingdom. She said she wants a second referendum on 19 October next year. But she has no powers to call one and has already referred herself to the Supreme Court, which is likely to confirm that only the UK parliament can bring into being a referendum on the future of the UK. So her call for a referendum date is, to all intents and purposes, a stunt. The SNP and their Green allies stood on pro-referendum manifestos last year and between them captured a majority of Holyrood seats. Sturgeon feels that justifies another vote. But that logic has already been rejected by the UK government, which says that now is not the time.